Wooden Puzzle Storage

I’m so proud of myself.  Wanna know why?  I thought this up ON MY OWN!  I didn’t steal this idea from anyone.  I don’t have a lot of original ideas, so I’m pretty excited!

I know I wasn’t the only one with this problem.  My son LOVES his wooden puzzles, but we didn’t have a good way to store them.  Up until now, they’ve had their own box, and we just dump out all the pieces into the bottom of the box, and then stack the puzzles on top. Which means we have to sort pieces everytime we want to play.
So, I started looking online for some puzzle storage.  I found this option:


(Amazon) But I don’t want to pay $30.
And then I saw this one:

(Amazon)  Only $11.  Much better.  But it looks oddly like this:

And I’ve got no less than 3 of these in my house.  This one fell out of the cabinet under the sink the other day, and hadn’t been jammed back in yet.
But it needed a little tweaking.  Some of the puzzles were too thick.  And the rack things were tilted so the puzzles didn’t sit right.
So a little easy bending and I had this:

And now, this!

And just because I can, I’m going to include some pictures of what happened in the 2 minutes it took me to bend those racks.  I had set for this “photo shoot” in the dining room, and my sweet Adam decided it was time to “hide.”
      
Love that boy!  Even if he comes with hard to store toys!

More children's storage projects from On the Banks of Squaw Creek:

Crib Spring Bulletin Board	Stuffed Animal Zoo	Bookshelf Dresser
Wooden Puzzle Storage		Pretty Diaper Boxes

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Spring at Squaw Creek

Squaw Creek was absolutely gorgeous yesterday.

I tried to capture the vibrancy of the colors, while simultaneously freaking out everyone driving down the highway.

I’m bummed that the sky is so washed out, but I was facing west at 4 PM and I couldn’t get a better shot. :(
Later in the spring, the grass will get taller and be a muted tan color.  But right now, it is a beautiful green.

Most of Iowa is very flat farmground.  But there are a few areas that are too hilly, or prone to flooding, to farm.  Those areas are pasture for cattle, and this is one of them.
I love these areas…I believe it is closer to what Laura Ingalls saw when she lived in the midwest; very different from our perfect rows of corn and thousands of wind turbines nowadays.  I’ve always wanted to have a picnic on the bank of a creek like this.  But I’m scared of snakes.
 
See the flat grass at the foreground of that last picture?  That is from the spring flooding.  The water was HIGH!

Here, I turned around and took a picture of our house.  You can also see two of our turkey buildings.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures – we certainly enjoyed the day!

Gravel Walkway Inspiration

Our entire yard is a mudpit.  After several thousand dollars, a new water line from the road, an electric line buried, and our septic tank dug up and pumped out, we have very little lawn.  Mostly, it’s mud.
One of the casualties was our old sidewalk.  It was a horrible sidewalk anyway – puddles all over, and in the winter those puddles became an ice skating rink.
We need to replace it in the cheapest, fastest, most DIY way.  And after some research, I’ve decided to put in a gravel walkway.
I had a hard time finding inspiration pics for this project, but here are a few I like:


That is lavendar lining the path.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  That’s what my path will look like if I don’t mow often enough. :)
I think this formal border is pretty, too.    But probably not really my style.
Another pretty garden path.
And….my VERY FAVORITE…

I love the bricks along the edges, the contrast of the pine needle mulch with the gravel, and the way the path meanders through the beds.  This is the inspiration picture that will guide my design.  My dearest husband thinks it’s a bad idea to mortar the bricks together, but I haven’t asked my dad yet, and he’s the real boss. :)  To the left of my path will be flower beds and the house, just like this picture.  To the right, however, will be lawn, but perhaps a narrow bed in between?
What do you think?  Any other budget friendly, DIY in a hurry solutions?

Edited to add:  I am adding this one a bit late (April 14) but I LOVE it so I had to include it.  It has white gravel, brick, and "yard" outside of those little bushes.  What are those guys, anyway?

And I linked up here: http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

China Cabinet Redo = BIG Impact

This china cabinet is my favorite piece of furniture, and when I get an itch to change up my decor, the china cabinet is usually one of the first changes I make.  And it makes such a HUGE impact.  I can change the entire mood of  my home by changing out the window panels.
For a couple of months after Christmas, I had this going on…

I think it was beautiful.  So serene and calming, but not at all boring.
Then I decided to infuse some color for spring.  I found this paper first, but I couldn’t make it work.
So I put up a panel of coffee dyed fabric.  And left it for a couple of days.  It looked too dark; too much of a contrast between the fabric and furniture.  Finally, I used the paper to make a cute little “valance” and I love the way it bridges the white of the cabinet with the gorgeous stripes.


My dining room faces south, and I just couldn’t get a picture without a glare from the windows.  Oops.   Here’s the cabinet’s entire journey, from free, laminate 80s furniture, to my favorite piece!

Ten Minute Table Runner

*Before I get started on this project, let me just say that I am HORRIBLE at thinking of post titles.  Mine are soooo boring!  I was just going to put “striped table runner” but that’s so blah!  I like the alliteration with this one, but if your table runner takes any more than 10 minutes, you’ve got issues.  Unless you’re making something spectacular like this.  Then I guess you have an incredible table runner!*

But anyway…Remember this coffee dyed fabric that I love?
I used it for another project this weekend, and had just a bit left over.  So I decided to use my new best friend to make a quick table runner.
And apparently, I took NO pictures of the process.  I’m guessing that I took pictures without a memory card in my camera.  My camera PRETENDS to take pictures when there is no card, but it has no internal memory, so there are not really any pictures.  And yes, it says “NO CARD” nice and big on the screen, but I use the actual view finder to take my pictures, so I may not have noticed it.  Sigh.  I knew this project went too smoothly.  And something ALWAYS goes wrong!
So anyway.  I used the leftover fabric, ironed the edges for a hem, stuck some Stitch Witchery (my new BFF) under there, ironed again, and Bob’s-Your-Uncle!  (Does anybody else say that?  I’ve never heard anyone but family members say it…)
I put it on my dining room table.  And it was too short.  Drats.
And then I remembered this guy.  She’s an adorable sewing machine table that I’ve had since I was a little girl.  And I ruined the top.  But no one can see that anymore!     
Have you ever used stitch witchery?  Any other great uses that I’m missing out on?
Linking up to all my fave parties!

Turkey Tuesday #1 – Grilled Turkey Tenderloin

I’ve decided to use my blog to promote something very important to me – Turkey!  Every Tuesday, I will post something turkey related: recipes, happenings on our farm, turkey in the news, etc.

I have some other turkey related posts here.

To start us off, I’m posting one of my favorite turkey recipes.  We made this for our Open House, using the large quantity recipe at the end.  We mixed the marinade well in advance and froze the turkey breast in the marinade.

I copied this recipe directly from www.iowaturkey.com

 

Iowa’s Grilled Turkey Tenderloin
Sold at the Turkey Grill at the Iowa State Fair, this tenderloin is sure to be a family favorite.

Photograph from www.iowaturkey.com

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup dry sherry OR red wine*
2 tablespoons instant minced onion
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound turkey tenderloin

 
1. Wash hands.
2. In a self-sealing plastic bag, plastic storage container or glass
dish, combine all ingredients except the turkey.
3. If desired, slice the turkey tenderloins in half lengthwise, making two thinner fillets. (I think this is a GREAT idea!) To make cutting easier, place tenderloins in freezer for 20 minutes before slicing. (Huh.  I didn’t know this trick, but I will definitely try it next time I’m slicing raw turkey.)
4. Add the turkey to the bag or container. Seal the bag or cover the container.
5. Place in refrigerator and marinate for several hours.
6. Drain off the marinade and discard.
7. Grill over direct medium heat 6 to 8 minutes per side or until meat thermometer registers 170˚F. and turkey is no longer pink.
8. If desired, serve on a hot dog or hoagie bun with favorite sandwich toppings.
*Shelia Ruka from Belmond likes to make her marinade with white wine. So, give that a try as another variation of this recipe.
Makes 4 servings.
Serve with: Fresh melon and cabbage slaw
1 Serving: Calories 166, Protein 25.7 g, Fat 6.3 g (Saturated 1.2 g), Cholesterol 58.7 mg, Sodium 257.6 mg,
Carbohydrate 1.1 g, Fiber .1 g

Turkey Tenderloins for a Crowd: For marinade combine 1½ cups lemon juice, 3 cups soy sauce, 3 cups vegetable oil, 3 cups dry sherry OR red wine, ¼ cup instant minced onion, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 2 teaspoons garlic powder. (Makes enough marinade for 20 to 30 pounds of turkey.)

If you try it out, let me know what you think!  It was a huge hit with our guests and something that I may make in large quantities to freeze for this summer.

Baby Turkey Day at Squaw Creek Farm

We received our 5th flock of turkeys this morning.  My husband is a 3rd generation turkey grower, and proud of it.  We put up five buildings and began raising turkeys last summer.

The truck came around 8:00 this morning.  Adam and I showed up around 8:45, just as they were finishing up.

Just over 20,000 birds were unloaded in less than an hour.  My husband worked with his father, sister, my brother, a neighbor kid, and his cousin to unload.  While they did the hard work,  Adam and I took pictures. :)

This is Bart’s cousin, Carter.  He lives in South Dakota, and is here visiting for Easter.  We are trying to convince him to come to Iowa State and work on the farm when he is older. He wasn’t so fond of that idea.  He says this is hard work, harder than basketball or football practice.  Gotta give the kid some credit, though.  He was out here working while his three brothers (1 older, 2 younger) were at Grandma and Grandpa’s sleeping.  See how the poults all crowded up to see the boys?  Silly turkeys.

We could NOT get Adam to look at the camera.  He was way too concerned about the skid loader.  “Tuh-tuh, tuh-tuh.”

The turkeys come in the crates that are stacked in the Bobcat’s bucket – 100 per crate.

  For the first two weeks or so, they live in these “rings.”  This keeps them close to the heaters, and keeps them from piling on each other as much.  Over the next few days, we  Bart will gradually make the rings bigger until the turkeys have run of the whole building.

Morning chores in this building will take several hours.  Each of the red feed pans has to be filled by hand, and the little, round, red waterers must be dumped by hand.  We Bart will gradually take these out until the turkeys just use the regular feeders (green and red) and waterers (green and white.) And, Bart has two other flocks right now.  Usually we have two flocks at a time, not three.  And usually we have a woman who helps with the baby turkeys.  But unfortunately, she’s got shingles and isn’t able to help this time.   The oldest flock goes to market this week, which will help, but that means two LATE nights of loading turkeys for Bart. 

My husband is an amazingly hard worker – 7 days a week, at LEAST 12 hours a day. And this is why.  It is hard on Adam and I, sometimes, so we try to help out when we can, and spend time as a family that way.  We hope that this hard work will pay off soon – our goal is to eliminate enough of our farm debt that we can hire more help, but that is not something that happens overnight!  In the meantime, eat as much turkey as possible to help us out, please!?!?